Does anyone despair of getting their home done?

abankerbutnotafatcat

Hi OP, you've had some very good advice here. Take it one step at a time.

I know exactly how you feel. We bought a Victorian house with a lot of issues 2.5 years ago and we only finally got the boiler replaced two weeks ago having put up for all that time with showers you didn't know whether or not the hot water would remain hot for.

I still can't imagine the place being finished but I know that we've now done all the big jobs and the rest is 'just' cosmetic. Still takes time and effort though!

Enjoy it - try to make it fun!

shays_mum

Hell yes!! just want one of those 60m specials to do my whole house for me lol!!

Melaniep101

Yep!! This is exactly how I feel! We took on a moneypit two years ago which needed complete renovation and we are nowhere near completing it. We didnt/dont have the money to finish it so we've just tackled one room at a time. I still look at our half painted hallway every time I come in from work, and think, we really should finish it, but I've run out of steam a bit. By the time you've done a day's work, come home, cooked a meal, cleared up, done some housework... the last thing you want to do is decorating!

You're not alone OP!

Mrs_Boo_Boo

Us too. We moved into our old place in June 1998 and haven't decorated any room properly yet. Just getting garden and extension sorted. No heating.
I totally agree with those building programmes where people are able to magic another £100,000 to finish it. The reality is that most people cannot do it all at once due to a lack of money and have to save up before they can do anything. It makes me laugh when they make a meal of people having to live in cramped conditions for years before thay can do anything!!! That's life.
Like others have said before make a list of things to do room by room and things you can do yourself and things you will have to get someone else to do. A local handy person may be able to do a few jobs every so often.
Look on internet or books on DIY as that's how we learned when we got our own place. Everyone's got to start somewhere.
Good luck,it takes time.

phoebe1989seb

Another one living in the latest in a long line of major projects here, so can totally feel your pain, lol!

Our largest (size-wise, at least) project took ten years to complete - we moved in when all our friends said the only way to do it was to hire a team of builders to convert it back from four flats to a single house then move in when it was done, but as we were doing most of it ourselves on a budget this wasn't an option

It does definitely get you down - even as serial house restorers/renovators, we often feel rather overwhelmed/as though there's no end in sight.....like last year when we had no hot water for nearly six months - and our current house is no exception......for example the PO had fitted the loo cistern on the floor in the room above the bathroom, ha ha!

In fact it's the worst house we've had as it didn't even have plastered walls when we bought it two years ago, so whereas normally we could give it a quick paint job to make it feel like our home, this has had to wait till everywhere gradually gets plastered - what I feel like doing myself most days, lol :rotfl:

As other posters have recommended though, one space/room at a time is the best way to tackle it. Don't bite off more than you can chew, take baby steps and feel proud of any improvements/achievements you make - doing it on your own with a little one deserves a huge pat on the back

cattie

Less than four days after moving into my new home last year I was taken seriously ill & spent just over 8 weeks in hospital, 7 of those in intensive care. Before I moved in I had dreams of the majority of the work being done by last Christmas.

The reality was I was still very poorly & recovering slowly at home & it was only at the end of January early this year that I felt well enough to start to think about getting somebody in to start the first of the jobs that needed doing- refurbishing the kitchen. That was actually completed late in March.

I've since had somebody in to redecorate the large living & dining room & restore the parquet flooring, but there is still a long way to go before this place will be fully completed.

Due to being ill I'm not able to cope with the decorating myself, as had been my initial plan, but have learned that I just have to be patient. New problems with the place seem to turn up daily, just adding to the list of what needs to be sorted.

Now, another Christmas is on the horizon & still my home is only partly done & sometimes it does get me down, but I keep moving the goalposts. First there I was initially hoping it would all be fully done last Christmas, then I hoped that by this Christmas I'd have a completed home, now I've had to move the goalposts yet again & hope & pray that by the time spring comes round once again next year all refurbishment & decorating work will be over & done with.

When you have no family or friends who can help it can be hard & it's so expensive to have to keep paying out to have work done. I've found it a real financial drain but also stressful in finding decent trustworthy people to carry out work for you.

The important thing for you is that you have a secure roof over you & your childs head & you are obviously working & studying hard to improve both of your futures. Ok, so it might take you longer than you would like to have a home as nice as you'd like it to be, but security is more important than that, so be kinder to yourself & just move your goalposts.

[Deleted User]

We have been in our house for 8 and 1/2 years and still have lots to do. In fact builders have just finished rebuilding the fireplace in the kitchen today. It took us 7 years to get a new heating system and bathroom done.

It all takes time and money. Perhaps you could get someone to help in exchange for a nice meal? A good book to buy / borrow from the library is the B&Q DIY guide to get you started.

As others have said tackle one small job at once. So maybe even book a few days off work to finish just one room in time for Christmas.

lisa701

Our 3 bed semi is still being done 14 years later!

Cannot afford to get people in to do the work so its been a case of trying to get things done around money and work. Problem is it takes so long to finish a room, it needs doing again.

As for fixing doors, floorboards, kitchen etc. I'd have thought being married to a joiner would help but it just means you wait longer than ever lol

missprice

ALL THE TIME
I feel some days like someone above said, getting plastered :beer:

Owned this house nearly 8 years and its all done bar the bathroom.
I have nasty flowery wallpaper in there, a really old metal bath that needs re enamelled . a too big sink for size of room and nasty looking pan.

Still don't have money to redo it and no chance in near future of getting enough, trying to win the stuff I need.

By the time bathroom gets done in maybe 2017 I will need to start the whole house again. New kitchen etc.

nickj_2

if it's any consolation , i'm a decorator by trade and it's taken me around 5 years to do my bathroom , which isn't huge or complicated , but it really is the last thing i want to do when i've been decorating all day , at least that is my excuse ,
as i always say ,rome wasn't built in a day .... it would have been but they had to wait for the undercoat to dry;)